Echo Void : Artifact

Description

From time to time, Echo Voids have been seen in locations from both The Steadfast and The Beyond. Are they toys? Were they surveillance devices? No one is entirely sure. The size of the Echo Void may not be the same from one to the other, but they always float perfectly buoyant in the air once activated and have a black surface that appears to completely absorb light. If put into motion, they appear to resist any friction that would slow them down, and will float in a straight line until stopped.

Echo Voids are a favorite tool of spies, who will take advantage of the playback delay to hide the device in the shadows to record conversations, retrieving it before it begins playback. Many of the larger cities in The Steadfast have outlawed the devices out of concern for who might be listening in with them.

GMs should feel free to modify this artifact to be a cypher or oddity as fitting for their campaign and setting.

Inspiration for this comes via a project known as Space Replay done by Francesco Tacchini, Julinka Ebhardt and Will Yates-Johnson at the Royal College of Art.

Details

Level:

1d6

Form:

A black orb between 1-3 feet across that reflects no light

Depletion:

1 in 1d6 (17%)

Effect:

Once activated, the Echo Void will expand with some type of gas and float at a point in the air, or can be pushed to travel in one direction until it hits a surface. During that process, it will record all sound within medium range and play it back on a delay (the delay can be up to 1d100 minutes, or GM discretion). Once activated, it will run for 28 hours